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Dear Suds Buds,

Yippee! The photo galleries are here at Soapdom.com. I am so delighted to now offer neat little photo galleries where you can click back and forth between photos and not have to scroll down a page to see them all.

Plus, as our Newsletter readers already know, Soapdom has changed it’s pricing for all access paid subscription memberships. As many of you wanted an annual subscription, and since the month-to-month was more trouble that it was worth (both for you and for me), we have eliminated the $4.95 one-month option, and replaced it instead with a whole year for just $34.95. What that means is that you get all access Soapdom all the time for a whole year for just under ten cents a day! And you don’t have to worry about your subscription expiring in one month, or three months or six. You’ve got a whole year ahead of you. Speaking of which, we will continue to offer the 3 month at $12.95 and the 6 month at $19.95, so you still have a number of pricing and time frame options.

I also have a few other surprises planned as far as site upgrades go, so stay tuned. One of the features I am considering is e-cards. These would not be soap opera related per se, they would be fun birthday, anniversary, friendship, and holiday e-cards. If you would like to see this feature at Soapdom, please let me know in the Criticize the Critic message board, or use the contact form to share your thoughts.

Recycled Storylines

Without spilling all the beans, I have come upon an upcoming story for an NBC soap. With all the brouhaha surrounding the two-week time span when NBC did not air it’s soaps due to the Olympics, and their promise of a September to Remember, you would think that they could find something a little more refreshing upon their return than a recycled story. Instead of two girls plotting to break up one couple – it’s the same two girls plotting to break up another couple. Don’t these two girls have any other kind of life? Can’t they do something else to cause waves? Why recycle a story that took years to play out, and only ended when the two characters in question did not renew their contracts and left the show. It could be easy to say: “I don’t blame them.” After all, they were playing the same story for years, and now, the show is about to recycle the story for another couple.

Truth is there are only seven possible stories. Any writer knows this. It’s what the writer brings to the table that makes the storytelling unique. And there is some comfort in familiarity. Recycling stories means that the viewers are already half-way familiar with what’s about to happen, making it easier for us to get into the swing of things on the new story.

What are your thoughts on recycling stories? Let me know on the Criticize the Critic folder at the Soapdom message boards.

Til the top of next week,

Linda Marshall-SmithQueenRulerCEO, Soapdom, Inc.

What do YOU think? Share your thoughts in the "Criticize the Critic" forum on the Soapdom.com Message Boards